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Polar Zone/Twenty Two
❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅ All the hurt, all the lies, all the tears that they cry When the moment is just right, you see fire in their eyes — The Script, Superheroes ---- EVERLY "HELP!" I freeze at the sound of Plover's scream. Farrah and I scramble out of the cave we were clearing of debri and dirty snow, our eyes scanning the rocky escarpment below the plateau. "Where is she?" Another cry, weaker this time. "There!" I spot a silvery flash sliding down the mountain. Eider is also runing towards her sister, who is slumped in a lifeless pile just beneath our new camp. "Plover?" Eider says desperately, shaking her twin. "She's bleeding. She's been attacked," Farrah breathes, the color draining from her face as she takes in the gash in Plover's side. It's not long, but it looks deep and bloody. "Jett!" I call to the black tom, who has just emerged from another den. "Stay with them!" I indicate the twins. "And tell Calder to guard Diana and Feather--" "Diana's gone," interruptes Eider, her eyes wide. "She was working with us -- she took Plover to gather some bedding for nests -- oh, stars." Realization and despair cover Eider's face. "Diana attacked her -- I left my sister alone with her--" "It's not your fault, you didn't know," says Farrah, as Jett drags a complaining Feather out of a den and begins interrogating her. "We have to go. Diana's gone for the peak. If she warns Greer, Turner and Ruta and Lucifer are dead meat." Farrah and I break into a sprint, leaving Eider and Jett to try to take care of Plover -- with any luck, Farrah and I will save the mission, and we can get Miko out of the peak to look at the injured she-cat. "Everly! Everly, we're too late!" Farrah cries. I look up and see a line of dark shapes descending from the peak. It's the Snow Guard, and with no sign of Ruta and Turner among them, I think it's safe to assume that they are not here to join the cause. "We have to warn the others. Run for it!" I scream, and we abandon our climb upwards, doubling back for the camp. Too late, I realize we aren't going to make it. Claws sink into my back and drag me to the ground. I hear Farrah's scream as she falls into me. "That's her," I hear Diana shout. "That's Everly. Take the other one, too -- her mate is one of the escapees." A cruel-faced Snow Guard tom forces me to stand. "Don't try anything, Everly," he hisses. Dread balls in my stomach. The only reason I got away with anything before our escape, I realize, is anonymity: Greer was hardly aware of my presence on the peak. But Diana has stripped me of that protection, crowning me as one of the leaders of the rebel movement and marking me out for death. And it's worse than that. Diana leans into me, eyes flashing, and says, "Do you know why you're worth so much? I may not say much, but I notice things, Everly, and you are the one cat Lucifer would move this entire mountain to save." "You're wrong," I say, and spit in her face. It's a sad moment when my greatest moment of rebellion is telling someone that my best friend won't come save me, but there's nothing else I can say. The worst part is, I'm not even lying. Thinking about the way Lucifer stumbled away from me when we were about to say good-bye -- I planned to at the very least be daring enough to touch my nose to his, maybe even confess my feelings for him -- cuts at my heart worse than Diana's claws on my face. Does he not care at all? Or did he sense my feelings and run away to show that he only wants friendship from me? I take the blow, head bent towards the ground. The Snow Guard tom forcing me to march growls, "Leave her for Greer," at Diana. "Who died and made you the leader, Sam?" she demands. Cecily, I think bitterly, then tense at the darkness of my own thoughts. But hey, as I'm about to die, I think I'm entitled to a share of pessimism. "Where are you taking us?" Farrah asks. I glance around and realize we aren't headed towards the main entrance. Instead, Sam and the others are taking us around, over to the far side of the mountain, which is covered with heaps of broken ice that have slid down from the very cap. One of the pieces of ice is blocking a small hole in the stone, impossible to detect unless you know what you're looking for. We step into the concealed tunnel. A secret entrance? Does Lucifer know about this? Up ahead, the tunnel opens onto a familiar bridge of rock: the one that spans the top of the training room, which Lucifer often practiced his jumps and leaps from. But I am distracted by a familiar smell within the tunnel. To my right, somewhere in the shadows, I sense a peculiar humidity in the air. It's less cold than the rest of my surroundings, and there is an almost herbal scent coming from that direction. It's familiar, but I can't quite place it. My mind spins.'' Miko's herb stores? Or . . .?'' We exit the tunnel and are dragged most roughly down from the ledge, onto the floor of the training room. I exchange a terrified look with Farrah. The memory of finding Lucifer in this room, bloody and nearly unconscious, surfaces clearly. "Greer will be here shortly," Sam promises us jeeringly, and appoints Snow Guard cats to watch all the exits while he goes to fetch her. I walk over to Farrah, who is shaking like a leaf. "We're going to get through this," I whisper. There is no hope in her eyes. "How?" "Focus on something else. Calder's face. Or you could count," I suggest, thinking of Lucifer and praying for just an iota of his strength. My voice sounds unnaturally high-pitched and squeaky, but Farrah is nodding, listening to me like I am speaking life into her rattling lungs. Click, click. The sound of claws tapping against stone. Greer leaps down from the ledge, having apparently entered through the secret tunnel as well. She is accompanied by Sam and Diana. Any thought I had of fighting evaporates; those two are evidently going to hold us down while Greer does her worst. Greer addresses Farrah first. "Do you know what I hate more than anything else?" "Traitors," spits Diana. "That's rich, coming from you," I say, standing in front of Farrah. Diana sneers at me. "I was never on your side, Everly. Unlike Ruta and the rest of your disgusting friends, I know where my loyalties lie. To the Snow Guard, the heart of the mountain." "No, to that murderous psychopath," I say, glaring at Greer. "Everly," whispers Farrah, clearly terrified I'm about to get myself killed. But all I can think of is how many times Lucifer has suffered in this room, not because of one of the many natural dangers of Thorn Mountain, but simply because of Greer and her own selfish desire to turn a young tom into nothing but an emotionless assassin. And my blood is boiling. "I was saving you for last, but I see you are hungry for punishment," Greer says, fastening her attention on me with a feral delight. "You've created quite a lot of trouble since arriving here, haven't you, Everly? Such a lot of commotion about such a small, insignificant cat. Tell me, what exactly about you makes you think you're good enough to uproot the Triad of Thorn Mountain? You, an outsider, who can barely survive without being surrounded by so-called 'friends' who you would gladly let die for you?" "I would never let my friends get hurt--" "But they have, Everly. They've been hurt, ripped from their homes for a futile movement, and now it appears you've deluded them enough to have them fighting for you, which will only hurt them more." "It wouldn't, if you would just stop trying to control everything and let them have their freedom," I say. Greer actually laughs. "Freedom is a fantasy constructed by those too weak to take control or bear the weight of responsibility." "And control is a fantasy constructed by those who cannot see another as a living being," I snap back. But my heart is aching as I think about Plover, who could be bleeding out right now. I edge closer to Farrah and whisper, "Miko," in her ear. She doesn't look at me, but I see her nod ever so slightly. "Don't even try to scheme," Greer says menacingly, making to push us apart. I leap. Lucifer would be proud; I all but fly, and nearly jump right over her. I dig my claws directly into her head and use it as a platform to kick out at both Sam and Diana. Farrah is gone in a flash, tearing out of the training room. "Get her!" Greer howls, and Sam takes off, bleeding copiously from the stump that's left of his ear. That leaves me with Diana and Greer. Two to one isn't great odds, but it's impossible when one of the two is Greer. Still, I refuse to back against the wall and stand my ground against the she-cats, prepared to go down fighting, not crushed to the floor. "Don't touch her!" snarls Greer as Diana starts towards me. "She's mine. Are you listening to me, Everly? I can see the fear in your eyes. You are about to suffer for even thinking, for daring to presume that you could ever defeat me." "We might as well quit the chatter, then," I hiss, and lash out with my claws. I manage to slash open a cut on her shoulder, but Greer's blow leaves a much larger one along the side of my neck. I spin with my leg outstretched and catch her in the forelegs. While she has the breath knocked from her, Diana lunges for me; I barely have time to twist so that she crashes into my shoulder instead of head-on. "I said leave her to me!" Greer says, shoving Diana away. She grabs me by the scruff of my neck and drags me upwards; I see the training cavern suddenly yawn up in front of me and realize we're on the ledge above -- no sooner have I registered this than solid ground disappears from under me, and I find myself flying through the air -- crunch. Completely unprepared for the sheer brutality of Greer's strength, I smash to the ground like one of the overripe berries that litter the forest floor at the start of winter. Pain fills every part of me, a great, screaming pain that rattles through the very marrow in my bones. But with my face pressed against the floor, I feel something else press into my fur at my throat -- something small and smooth. It's the pink pendant Lucifer gave me. It's stayed on, not only through the river crossing, but through the fight. Just like that, Lucifer's face flashes up in my mind's eye, his blue eyes like small flames that ignite something within me. I lie absolutely still, resisting the urge to wipe the blood I feel trickling down the side of my head. Greer lands lightly beside me and, claws unsheathed, moves my head none too gently with her paw. In a second, she's going to feel my pulse and realize I'm not dead. I grab her paw and shoulder, and flip her hard against the ground face-first. Blood coats my paws, only this time it's not mine. But I don't even have it in me to be disgusted, and there's no time to worry about what that means about me. Greer sneers up at me. Her face is horrific, completely drenched in red; even her teeth are dripping. But she hardly seems to notice. "You do have a fire, Everly," she says. "It's just a pity, I suppose, that you chose to try to light up the polar zone." "It's a pity that you tried to chain down this mountain, Greer, because we won't have it any longer. Do you feel it already? Rebellion is rising. Your secrets are being exposed, and the truth is settling in. You won't be in control much longer." "I suppose it's sweet that you believe that. At least you'll die hopeful," Greer says, yanking my claws away from her. She flings me against the stone wall. My head cracks loudly against it, and I let out a scream and crumple to the ground. This time, I can't hang on any longer. With a soft groan, I give myself away to the greedy tendrils of darkness snatching up my vision and allow the world to fade to black. Category:Polar Zone